According to the immigration board’s written decision, Malik “planned to conduct a violent attack against a United States government building and other targets in the financial district of Toronto, which could have resulted in the death and/or serious injury of persons as well as the destruction of property”.

Humanity knows no boundaries. This was proven by 12 Indian students who donated blood to a Pakistani liver patient, saving his life.

Aman Lal Makhija, a 40-year-old Pakistani man from Sindh, traveled to New Delhi for a liver transplant after being advised by doctors to seek help across the border, according to Daily Mail.

Makhija was accompanied by his donor and brother-in-law Dilshad Ali. However, Makhija’s liver started failing and there was urgent need for blood. Responding to Dilshad’s pamphlets requesting blood donations, 12 students came forward to donate blood.

The doctors who operated on the patient, Dr KR Vasudevan and Dr Abhideep Chaudhary, said that owing to the timely contribution of blood, the team was able to successfully perform a complicated liver transplant surgery on February 27.

“Usually, all liver transplant patients are advised to arrange 10 units of blood in case of any eventuality. But being from Pakistan, the family did not have any donors. The noble act of blood donation by these students really touched us all,” said Dr Vasudevan, a liver transplant surgeon.

Makhija, who runs a medical store in Pakistan, said, “This rebirth is the best Holi gift to me by Indian doctors and students.”

“There are about 400 Hindu families in our area. We have never faced any problems in Pakistan. Here, everyone, including these young students, have been so helpful. The students even came to enquire about my brother’s health and have invited me to take part in Holi celebrations. My family will always remain obliged to them,” Jawahar Lal Makhija, the patient’s brother, said.

“The patient was suffering from Hepatitis-B for the last three years and needed an urgent liver transplant. A part of his bother-in-law’s healthy liver was transplanted in a seven-hour surgery. Both donor and recipient are fine now and will be discharged in a week,” said Dr Chaudhary.

ISLAMABAD: While briefing the National Assembly Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training, this Monday, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) Chairperson Dr Mukhtar Ahmed said that although Pakistan may not have the best educational institutes in the world, the local educational institutions are continuously improving in rankings.

The commission, he said, has been constantly trying to improve the quality of education in the country.

Dr Ahmed said that there were two types of rankings of educational institutions. In the global rankings, National University of Science and Technology (Nust) has been ranked among the top 500 universities of the world.

Pakistan women’s cricket has taken giant strides in last few years. Victory in the Asian Games and receiving the gold medal was a wonderful moment. It was Pakistan’s first in eight years in those games and for the Women’s team to win it was a great achievement. Pakistani women cricketers broke Pakistan’s hoodoo against India in World Cups too. The Pakistan cricket team had never beaten India in a World Cup and it was the women who did it in the 2012 World T20 in Sri Lanka. They have also reached No 6 in the rankings, and defeated some top sides, including South Africa, who they hadn’t beaten for 15 years. They have reached new heights. Those teams, our team would previously consider unbeatable and it would always lose to, it has started defeating them. We feel very proud that our players are receiving a great recognition and are ranked highly on the world stage. A high point for women’s cricket this year has been the live coverage of Pakistani women’s matches on national TV in Pakistan. It is a great sign and it has increased awareness of the sport. After watching those matches, a lot of women who previously hadn’t ever considered playing cricket or even known that there was a women’s team, have gained awareness of our efforts. People are also able to judge the standards at which our girls play cricket. The TV coverage is a very big step. The stadiums in which women contest the matches are open to the public, which is a very good sign. There are a lot of fresh new players taking up the sport and they certainly have the ability, but fitness is still a challenge. We don’t focus on fitness at grass-roots level, as women do not tend to join gyms in Pakistan. New women players are urged to focus on fitness as it will help them to serve the national side far better.

LONDON — For two decades, Altaf Hussain has run his brutal Pakistani political empire by remote control, shrouded in luxurious exile in London and long beyond the reach of the law.

He follows events through satellite televisions in his walled-off home, manages millions of dollars in assets and issues decrees in ranting teleconferences that last for hours — all to command a network of influence and intimidation that stretches from North America to South Africa.

This global system serves a very localized goal: perpetuating Mr. Hussain’s reign as the political king of Karachi, the brooding port city of 20 million people at the heart of Pakistan’s economy.

“Distance does not matter,” reads the inscription on a monument near Mr. Hussain’s deserted former house in Karachi, where his name evokes both fear and favor.

Now, though, his painstakingly constructed web is fraying.

A British murder investigation has been closing in on Mr. Hussain, 59, and his party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement. His London home and offices have been raided, and the police have opened new investigations into accusations of money laundering and inciting violence in Pakistan.

The scrutiny has visibly rattled Mr. Hussain, who recently warned supporters that his arrest may be imminent. And in Karachi, it has raised a previously unthinkable question: Is the end near for the untouchable political machine that has been the city’s linchpin for three decades?

“This is a major crisis,” said Irfan Husain, the author of “Fatal Faultlines,” a book about Pakistan’s relationship with the United States. “The party has been weakened, and Altaf Hussain is being criticized like never before.”

KARACHI : Pakistani film Zinda Bhaag has won four major awards at the the Mosaic 2013 (MISSAF) festival in Toronto.

The festival is Canada’s largest South Asian event and includes a music and film festival featuring some of the top names from the region. Among the contenders this year were Meera Nair’s adaptation of Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist.

Zinda Bhaag, produced by Mazhar Zaidi and written and directed by Meenu Gaur and Farjad Nabi, won the prestigious best film award. Amna Ilyas bagged the best actress award and veteran Naghma Begum the best supporting actress for their roles in the film, that also features the Indian icon Nasiruddin Shah. Sahir Ali Bagga won the award for the best music/ soundtrack for his work.

In 1973, my paternal grandparents visited Makkah to perform the first of their two Hajj pilgrimages.

With them were two of my grandmother’s sisters and their respective husbands.

Upon reaching Jeddah, they hailed a taxi from the airport and headed for their designated hotel.

The driver of the taxi was a Sudanese man. As my grandparents and one of my grandmother’s sisters settled themselves in the taxi, the driver leisurely began driving towards the hotel and on the way inserted a cassette of Arabic songs into the car’s Japanese cassette-player.

My grandfather who was seated in the front seat beside the driver noticed that the man kept glancing at the rear view mirror, and every time he did that, one of his eyebrows would rise.

Curious, my grandfather turned his head to see exactly what was it about the women seated in the back seat that the taxi driver found so amusing.

This was what he discovered: As my grandmother was trying to take a quick nap, her sister too had her eyes closed, but her head was gently swinging from left to right to the beat of the music and she kept whispering (as if in quiet spiritual ecstasy) the Arabic expression Subhanallah, subhanallah …’

My grandfather knew enough Arabic to realise that the song to which my grandmother’s sister was swinging and praising the Almighty for was about an (Egyptian) Romeo who was lamenting his past as a heart-breaking flirt.

After giving a sideways glance to the driver to make sure he didn’t understand Punjabi, my grandfather politely asked my grandmother’s sister: ‘I didn’t know you were so much into music.’

‘Allah be praised, brother,’ she replied. ‘Isn’t it wonderful?’

The chatter woke my grandmother up: ‘What is so wonderful?’ She asked. ‘This,’ said her sister, pointing at one of the stereo speakers behind her. ‘So peaceful and spiritual …’

My grandfather let off a sudden burst of an albeit shy and muffled laughter. ‘Sister,’ he said, ‘the singer is not singing holy verses. He is singing about his romantic past.’

My grandmother started to laugh as well. Her sister’s spiritual smile was at once replaced by an utterly confused look: ‘What …?’

‘Sister,’ my grandfather explained, ‘Arabs don’t go around chanting spiritual and holy verses. Do you think they quote a verse from the holy book when, for example, they go to a fruit shop to buy fruit or want toothpaste?’

KARACHI: All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them, says Walt Disney.

Disney’s quote, perhaps, best explains the success story of Farhan Masood, who has been recognised as one of the world’s brilliant minds by Massachusetts Institute of Technology earlier this year for his product – world’s fastest retina and face scanner algorithm called SmartXS.

Masood’s dream – to build a Pakistani product and turn it into a global one – came true this year after he won the MIT Business Acceleration Plan contest, a highly competitive annual event whose objective is to help Pakistani IT, ITES, telecom and new media companies improve their business.

Of the 165 participants that compete in this contest, some members of top teams also get a chance to attend an entrepreneurship development programme at MIT in Cambridge, USA.

After a winning performance in the contest, Masood joined the list of MIT alumni. He has just returned after attending a course at MIT, one of the world’s best educational institutes. Those who attended this programme previously had benefited a great deal.

According to Pakistan Software Export Board’s website, some of the companies that participated in this programme saw their revenues grow by 5 to 10 times and valuation increase by 15 times. Giving the example of Sofizar, the PSEB’s website stated that the company’s revenue increased from less than $1 million to $30 million in two and a half years.

Pakistani nuclear scientist Pervez Hoodbhoy has spoken of growing fears in Pakistan that its nuclear arsenal could be “hijacked” by extremists as a result of “increasing radicalisation” of the Army.

He said such fears were initially expressed mostly in the west but were now widely shared within Pakistan after “repeated” extremist attacks on Army installations, including the ISI headquarters in Lahore. These could not have taken place without “some sort of inside information”.

“There’s a fair degree of concern that because of increasing radicalisation of Pakistani Army, the country’s nuclear weapons could be hijacked by extremists,” he said speaking to a group of Indian journalists at the launch of his book, Confronting the Bomb: Pakistani & Indian Scientists Speak Out, a collection of essays by Indian and Pakistani scientists who believe that the acquisition of nuclear weapons by the two countries was “undesirable” and had put the entire subcontinent in danger.

Mr. Hoodbhoy, who has often been a target of the Pakistani establishment, said Pakistan’s nuclear capability had given a new dimension to its campaign against India. Islamabad saw it as a “counter-force” to overcome India’s military superiority and was providing a “nuclear umbrella” to jihadis engaged in anti-India activities.

“If Pakistan did not have nuclear weapons, Kargil would not have happened. My contention is that it was the first instance that nuclear weapons actually caused a war, ‘’ he said.

Warning of continued jihadi threat to India, he said: “Today India is faced with a very difficult situation because jihadis are still operating in Pakistan with the sanction of the state and they are provided cover by the fact that Pakistan has nuclear weapons.”

LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters): A month ago, Muhammad Tahirul Qadri was living quietly in Canada, immersed in the affairs of his Islamic charity and seemingly far removed from the pre-election power games shaping the fate of politicians in his native Pakistan.

In the past three weeks, he has returned home to lead a call for electoral reforms that has earned him instant celebrity, sent a stab of anxiety through the ruling class and raised fears of trouble at a planned rally in Islamabad on Monday.

“Our agenda is just democratic electoral reforms,” Qadri told Reuters in the eastern city of Lahore, the headquarters of his Minhaj-ul-Quran religious foundation. “We don’t want the law-breakers to become our lawmakers.”

Revolutionaries never die; definitely not until what they strived for is achieved. They can also reincarnate when liberation is threatened by incarceration. The cause they fought for can wake up again, the struggle they gave birth to can be born again, the noise they generated can resonate again, the slogans they chanted can reverberate again – if recent events are anything to go by, Lahore should echo with “Inquilab zindabad!” again.

Bhagat Singh’s revolution could reawaken 81 years after the British hanged him in Lahore. The indirect skirmishes between the Tehreek Hurmat-e-Rasool (THK) led fundamentalists and the Dilkash Lahore Committee, over renaming Fawwara Chowk (or Shadman Chowk) back to its pre-partition name of ‘Bhagat Singh Chowk’, is a throwback to the clash between suppression and freedom that the man gave his life for. Apparently dying for the sake of the independence of this country and its people isn’t reason enough for the square – where he was hanged on 23 March, 1931, aged 23 – to be named after the freedom fighter himself. It is a pity that people and groups, who now have the luxury to openly express themselves – something that they didn’t have back then –, choose their expression to oppose tributes to those very personalities that made this freedom possible, owing to their religious identity.

ISLAMABAD — Pakistani officials say they have opened an investigation into a businessman who has been accused of blasphemy after refusing to join protests over an anti-Islam video and allegedly trying to convince others also not to take part.

Police officer Munir Abbasi says that hundreds of protesters in the city of Hyderabad who rallied against the film that mocks the Prophet Muhammad demanded businessman Haji Nasrullah Khan shut his shops in solidarity.

When Khan refused, one of his tenants said his decision supported the film.

KHAR: Pakistani Taliban released a video showing what appeared to be the severed heads of a dozen soldiers on Friday as security officials said 15 troops were missing following fighting with militants.

The clashes on Tuesday came as part of a Pakistan army operation to repel Taliban militants who had crossed over from Kunar province in Afghanistan last Friday and occupied the village of Batwar in the Bajaur tribal district.

“At least 15 of our soldiers are still missing,” a senior security official told AFP.

Another security official said “more or less” that many soldiers were missing but declined to give the exact total.

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Sirajud Din sent AFP a video showing a militant commander posing with 12 heads arranged on the ground which he claimed were from soldiers they had killed.

“Praise be to God that the mujahideen in Bajaur agency have managed to kill the infidel soldiers of Pakistan,” he says.

“Many of them were killed by bullets, 12 of them as you see have been beheaded, you see 12 heads here, and more heads are on the way.” The commander, his face unmasked and wearing traditional tribal dress, is flanked in the footage by around a dozen armed men including one wielding a huge axe.

The video showed belongings from the dead men laid out on a sheet, including Pakistani identity cards, camouflage pattern helmets, Pakistani currency, mobile phones and bank cards.

Military sources have so far not said whether they are the missing soldiers or confirmed that those shown in the video are Pakistani troops. …..

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani Taliban on Monday warned the country’s military it had set up a “suicide bombers squad” to hit troops if an offensive is launched in a restive tribal area bordering Afghanistan.

In an email message sent to media, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, an umbrella militant group, said it had received “an exclusive intelligence report” about the offensive in North Waziristan from its “sources” in army headquarters.

TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan outlined details about the regiments and units and the possible commander for the campaign, said to be launched on August 26 for one month.

“TTP has also prepared itself for resistance, we have set up a suicide bombers squad to welcome (the) army. We will defeat our enemy, whom is defending secular, unIslamic system of Pakistan by punching them back hard InshaAllah (God willing),” Ehsan said.

The United States has withdrawn funding for the Pakistani version of the American children’s television series known for its educational content and colorful puppets. The U.S. Agency for International Aid received reports of corruption charges on the production company, Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop, through an anti-fraud hotline, according to U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner. Exact details of the graft weren’t provided.

The show, which began airing six months ago, features Elmo with a cast of local characters. The funding cut comes just six weeks after the U.S. Ambassador Cameron Munter visited the set of “Sim Sim Hamara,” the Pakistani name for the series, “to reaffirm the U.S. Government’s commitment to children’s education in Pakistan,” according to a USAID press release.

The U.S. had originally allocated $20 million to produce the show and $6.7 million of this has already been spent, according to press agency reports.

According to reports from Pakistan Today, the money was used to pay off Rafi Peer’s debts. The funding was also used to award lucrative salaries to family members, many of whom worked in the company.

Muslims around the world are gathering for Friday prayers, and in one neighbourhood in the US state of Virginia, the worshippers will enter a building that could hardly be further from a traditional mosque.

At a time when religious differences are sparking conflict in the Middle East and beyond – it is cooperation between two faiths which is allowing this unique programme flourish.

The BBC’s Katty Kay reports on how the Jewish community opened its doors because the area’s mosques could not accommodate all of the growing Muslim population.

NewsX@9 is a NewsX special show which debates the main news event of the day. A group of some 250 Pakistani Hindus were today allowed to cross over to India for a pilgrimage after being detained at the Wagah land border crossing due to a controversy over reports that they planned to migrate to the neighbouring country. The Hindus protested at the Wagah border crossing after they were detained for almost seven hours.

Immigration authorities finally allowed the Hindus to cross the frontier at about 2.30 pm. The kidnapping of a teenage Hindu girl, Manisha Kumari, from Jacobabad city of Sindh province on August 7 had sparked widespread concern in the minority community amidst reports of an exodus of some 250 Hindus from the region. Confusion surrounded the travel plans of the Hindus from Sindh and Balochistan. Some TV news channels reported they had decided to migrate to India because of forced conversions, extortion and kidnapping. So we debate today – Why are minorities unsafe in Pakistan? We debate the question on the show and try to evolve consensus among our panelists over the issue. Watch this NewsX special NewsX@9.

This beleaguered minority in the country still deserves international support.

BY SADANAND DHUME

This isn’t the best time to be a Pakistani liberal. Opinion polling shows most Pakistanis thinking of America as an enemy, democracy as an unwelcome concept and the imposition of Shariah law as a no-brainer. Meanwhile, recent news out of the country involves the judiciary taking down an elected prime minister and politicians like Imran Khan riding high by invoking anti-imperialist and Islamist ideas, even as an Urdu-language media remains saturated with hyper-nationalism.

Against this backdrop, the world can’t be blamed for regarding the Pakistani liberal as an exotic hothouse flower with no roots in the country’s unforgiving soil. As the United States enters a shaky new period of detente with Pakistan following the reopening last week of supply routes to Afghanistan, it’s fair to ask if these liberals deserve notice at all. Doesn’t it make more sense for the West to instead engage more intensely with the powerful army and assertive hardliners such as Mr. Khan?

The answer is no. It’s always tempting for the West to do business with whoever’s powerful, but this is a recipe for the kind of trouble America right now faces with its troublesome “ally.” Pakistan’s liberals are not only less weak and less of a fringe phenomenon than they’re made out to be, they’re also the only ones who hold out the promise of a better future for their country.

One recurring complaint against liberalism is that though Pakistan regained its democracy four years ago, President Asif Ali Zardari’s civilian government still can’t wrest decision-making away from the military. But no civilian government could realistically be expected to immediately assert its authority over an army that has directly ruled the country for 34 of its 65 years, and continues to command the lion’s share of national resources. As the experiences of Indonesia and Turkey show, only when democracy grows roots do politicians acquire the finesse and self-confidence to take on generals accustomed to command. This takes patience.

TORONTO – An official with the Consulate General of Pakistan in Toronto has been recalled following an inquiry into a sexual assault allegation.

The married father of two allegedly assaulted a female passport applicant inside the North York consulate in February.

Toronto Police were not called to investigate the matter. Consular officials conducted their own investigation which wrapped up late last month.

After collecting statements from both sides, the investigative committee declared the man was “totally unfit” for government service.

The committee “held the accused guilty of trying to use his position to coax the victim into a locked room with malicious intentions of molesting/physically assaulting her,” said a consular report obtained by the Toronto Sun.

The June 23 report shows that the allegation was reported on Feb. 12 by a “respected community member.” The consular official allegedly took the victim “into an isolated locked room.”

The victim is identified as a Pakistani-Canadian woman from Thorncliffe. The report states that the employee was in charge of MRP (machine-readable passport) processing.

The only people aware of the allegation were the accused, the victim, and committee members.

“Inquiry officers were told to type notes themselves to keep the inquiry confined within the four walls of the office,” reads the report, signed by acting consul general Imran Ali.

The document also states that the woman “did not go to Toronto law enforcement authorities on our assurances that we would hold an impartial inquiry and the culprit would be brought to justice.”

Sources confirmed no attempt was made to stop the woman from going to Toronto Police when the allegation first came to light.

The report also states that the RCMP was informed about the inquiry “to pre-empt embarrassment” if the victim later contacted the authorities. It later acknowledged the possible “negative consequences” if the victim contacted Canadian law enforcement or media.

Pakistan’s name has been blackened by just one man: General AAK ‘Tiger’ Niazi. According to a new book by Oxford University Press, he is supposed to have pronounced the words that even Genghis Khan would have hesitated to use: that he would let loose his soldiers on the women of East Pakistan till the lineage/ethnicity of the Bengali race was changed.

The account has come from a true son of Pakistan, late Major-General (retd) Khadim Hussain Raja in his recently published book A Stranger in My Own Country: East Pakistan, 1969-1971 (OUP, 2012). The book is posthumously published probably because it was a hot potato in the times it was actually written. He was General Officer Commanding 14 Division in East Pakistan.

By the grace of God, mission accomplished. From now onwards the 3rd of July would be celebrated along with 6th September, when the enemy’s tooth were made sour (dant khatay kar deye). The word ‘SORRY’ has restored our honourable and respectable position among the committee of nations. It’s a great moral victory of our principle stand on the Torkham Pass and the nation’s victory over the sole super power of the planet.

The sovereignty and integrity of our borders has been accepted and recognised by the superpower and soon will be recognised by our brothers of Fata also, who have been misguided by foreign agents. Here are the details of our victory over the infidel Christian forces that are fighting an unjust war against our student brothers. Like the Ivans before them these Joes are going to face the same fate. InshAllah!

With the 9/11 terrorist group on the ropes, the organization that masterminded the 2008 Mumbai attacks has become the world’s most dangerous, says Bruce Riedel.

By Bruce Riedel

The arrest of Sayeed Zabiuddin Ansari, alias Abu Jindal, at New Delhi airport late last month is a major breakthrough in the investigation of the deadliest terror attack in the world since 9/11. Abu Jindal was one of the masterminds of the November 2008 attack on the city of Mumbai in which 166 people were killed, including six Americans. He is already confessing to his role and implicating Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate directly in controlling the attack as it went down.

The November 2008 attack by ten Lashkar e Tayyiba (LeT) terrorists on multiple targets in Mumbai, India was the most significant and innovative terrorist attack since 9/11. It marked the maturation of LeT from a Punjabi-based Pakistani terror group targeting India exclusively to a member of the global Islamic jihad targeting the enemies of al Qaeda: the Crusader West, Zionist Israel, and Hindu India. LeT used cell phones and GPS technology to terrorize an entire city and grab global attention for three days. LeT’s masterminds ran the operation in real time from a headquarters in Pakistan, even issuing death sentences to innocents.

Abu Jindal, an Indian citizen traveling with a Pakistani passport, was in the control room in Karachi in 2008 talking on the phone to the ten terrorists. He gave them advice on where to look for more victims in the Taj Hotel, for example, and instructed them when to murder their hostages. His voice was recorded by the Indian authorities listening in on the phone calls and has since been replayed in chilling detail by the Indian police for all to hear.

According to press reports from India, Jindal was arrested on June 21 after being deported from Saudi Arabia to India. The arrest operation was a joint counter-terrorism effort by India, Saudi Arabia, and the U.S. Abu Jindal was in the Kingdom recruiting and training new LeT volunteers from the enormous Pakistani diaspora in the Gulf countries. He was allegedly in the final stages of a “massive” new terror plot. Abu Jindal has also been linked to other attacks in India including the bombing of the Mumbai metro and train system in 2006 that killed over 180.

Abu Jindal has told the Indians that two members of the ISI were also in the control room, both allegedly majors in the Pakistani army. This confirms the longstanding accusation that the 2008 plot was orchestrated and conducted with the assistance of the ISI. An American, David Headley, who worked for LeT and did the reconnaissance for the attack has said the same thing. So has the only survivor of the attack force, Amir Kasab, who has been convicted of mass murder in India.

But because Abu Jindal was actually in the control room in Karachi his accusation is even more powerful. If the press reports about Abu Jindal’s accusations are confirmed then the ISI was involved directly in the decision to murder Americans. So far the Indian government has publicly confirmed only that his testimony points to state sponsorship of the attack without providing details of his confessions.

The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan has released video showing the remains of 17 Pakistani soldiers who were beheaded after being captured and executed during fighting in the northwestern district of Dir just three days ago.

The graphic video, which was obtained by The Long War Journal, was sent to journalists by Ihsanullah Ihsan, a spokesman for the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan.

The videotape includes a statement by Hakeemullah Mehsud, the leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. Hakeemullah promises that the Taliban will continue to fight the Pakistani military until the government enforces sharia, or Islamic law, and stops supporting the US in the region.

In the video, the Taliban show the heads of 17 Pakistani soldiers displayed on a white sheet; the Taliban claim that 18 soldiers were killed during the fighting. The Taliban fighters are standing around the gruesome display, holding weapons as the camera pans back and forth to show the soldiers’ remains. The Taliban then show the military identification cards of the slain soldiers.

The 17 soldiers were killed after more than 100 Taliban fighters crossed the border from Kunar province in Afghanistan and attacked the Pakistani troops. Sirajuddin Ahmad, a spokesman for the Malakand Taliban, which operates under the command of Mullah Fazlullah, initially claimed credit for the attack and said 17 soldiers were killed.

“Our fight will continue until the establishment of sharia law in Pakistan …. We will fight whoever tries to stand in our way,” Ahmad told Reuters the day after the battle.

Videotape the latest of a Taliban execution of Pakistani security forces

The Pakistani Taliban routinely videotape executions of their captives. The most recent high-profile execution, which was recorded in a videotape that was later distributed, took place in June 2011, when the Taliban captured 16 Pakistani policemen in Dir, lined them up, and executed them via firing squad.

The policemen had been captured after the Taliban crossed the border from Kunar province in Afghanistan and attacked police outposts and villages in the Shaltalu area on June 1, 2011. The raid sparked a pitched battle that lasted for several days. Dozens of Pakistani policemen were taken hostage during the ensuing fighting. Although Pakistani officials claimed that 27 policemen and 45 Taliban fighters were killed during the raid, independent news reports put the number of policemen killed at more than 40. [See LWJ report, Video of brutal Taliban execution of Pakistani policemen emerges.]

In February 2011, Hakeemullah Mehsud, the emir of Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, released a videotape of the execution of a former Pakistani military intelligence official known as Colonel Imam. Although Imam, a senior officer in Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, was a favorite of the Afghan Taliban for his support of Mullah Omar, the Pakistani Taliban accused him spying against the terror group. [See LWJ report, Video: Pakistani Taliban execute Colonel Imam.]

Pakistan military protests with NATO and Afghan forces over cross-border attack

By Jibran Ahmad

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistan lodged a protest with NATO and Afghan forces on Monday, accusing them of failing to act against militant safe havens in Afghanistan after a cross-border attack killed 13 Pakistani troops, a military official said.

The move is likely to intensify tensions between troubled allies Islamabad and Washington, currently involved in difficult talks to repair ties.

More than 100 militants based in Afghanistan’s Kunar province entered Pakistan and attacked a military patrol on Sunday, the military official said. Fourteen militants and six soldiers were killed in the skirmish.

Seven Pakistani soldiers were beheaded by militants after the clash and four were still missing, the official said.

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said the Afghan deputy head of mission in Islamabad was summoned and presented with a “strong protest”.

The Malakand faction of the Pakistan Taliban claimed responsibility, and threatened more attacks.

“Our fight will continue until the establishment of sharia law in Pakistan … We will fight whoever tries to stand in our way,” Sirajuddin Ahmad, the faction’s spokesman, told Reuters.

Ahmad claimed the group had killed 17 Pakistani soldiers.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan said it was aware of the report, but had no information.

Fazlullah Wahidi, governor of Kumar province, said militants were based in Pakistan, not Afghanistan. “We don’t have any information about militants crossing the border from Afghanistan to attack troops in Pakistan,” he told Reuters.

The Malakand, or Swat, Taliban are led by Maulvi Fazlullah, who was the Pakistan Taliban leader in the Swat Valley, about 100 miles northwest of Islamabad, before a 2009 army offensive forced him to flee.

Also known as FM Mullah for his fiery radio broadcasts, he regrouped in Afghanistan and established strongholds, according to the Pakistan military.

Fazlullah re-emerged as a threat last year, when his fighters conducted cross-border raids that killed around 100 Pakistani security forces, angering Pakistan, which faces threats from multiple militant groups.

Ahmad Rashid is naïve in his expectations from the youth. Youth holds a mixture of strange contradictory thoughts. Fed with textbook propaganda, Hindu hatred provides basis for nationalism. Removing this hatred will create a severe identity crisis for the already confused youth. Their Paknationalism conflicts with their ummah hood, which they seldom realize. They are more concerned with deaths of Muslims in Palestine or Kashmir than inside the country. Youth are, to borrow Tarek Fateh’s book title, chasing a mirage of a perfect Islamic system that never existed. Youth has developed a strange paranoid mindset which sees conspiracies everywhere. One can get labeled a CIA agent or Zionist stooge on mere twitter/Facebook/blog comments. They seriously think that foreign agencies hire ordinary people to shake the moral/ideological foundations of Pakistan. They see politicians as corrupt and Generals as saviors. They see ethnicity and cultural diversity as threat to the state. Regarding terrorism, mostly live in state of denial. Anti-Americanism is on its peak. People hate the West; even Pakistanis living in West see no contradiction in hating the country where they live. Youth has little idea about economy and capitalism. And most of their views on foreign policy revolves around ghairat. Their idiot savior Imran khan has played a major role in de-intellectualizing the internal debate on foreign policy, economy, politics, civil military imbalance, terrorism. If youth is the last hope, then we are doomed.

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SUFI POET SHAH ABDUL LATIF

When the world was still to be born When Adam was still to receive his form Then my relationship began When I heard the Lord’s Voice A voice sweet and clear I said “Yes” with all my heart And Formed a bond with the land (Sindh) I love When all of us were one, My bond then began. - Secular Sindhi Sufi (mystic) poet of peace, Shah Abdul Latif 1689 – 1752

M. A. Jinnah’s Speech

"You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed – that has nothing to do with the business of the State." - Founder of Pakistan - M. A. Jinnah.

“Minorities to whichever community they may belong, will be safeguarded. Their religion of faith or belief will be secure. There will be no interference of any kind with their freedom of worship. They will have their protection with regard to their religion, faith, their life, and their culture. They will be, in all respects, the equal citizens of Pakistan without any distinction of caste or creed.” ~ M. A. JINNAH, July 14, 1947, at a press conference in New Delhi.

"Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world." ~ Nelson Mandela

Disclaimer

You are using this web page just for viewing purpose only. All users are using this blog at their own risk and agree not hold "IAOJ" liable for any thing resulting from visiting of this blog or any other blog maintained by IAOJ."IAOJ" is not responsible for any content linked to or refered to. All videos, Live Tvs, blogs or videos links point to content hosted on third party websites or we are using third party links. "IOAJ" does not accept responsibility for content hosted on other websites.
"IAOJ" acts as personal Journal, blog or diary . Under no circumstances shall "IAOJ" be responsible for anything or otherwise whatsoever.
The views & opinions expressed on this blog are in no way representative of the views or opinions of the blog.All-information we may publish here sincerely with little editing, for the reasons to improve the quality of discussion, while giving the maximum room for freedom of expression, clarity & space and it deemed reliable but not guaranteed and should be independently verified.Health Issues
Articles on health issues are not intended to treat, diagnose or prescribe a cure for any health problem. The information contained herein is in no way to be considered as a substitute for your own inner guidance or consultation with a duly licensed health- care professional.
I am not an expert on this or any other issues. I am a citizen journalist. My views on this and other blogs are just my personal views and they could be wrong.
The material on this blog is just to create awareness, debate, dialogue, interaction and understanding in people on different issues of politics, economics, human rights, environmental, social justice, democracy, Science, culture, history and different philosophies of the world without any profit basis.

We believe in humanity, diversity and fairness and we are not against any nation, religion, race, colour or country. And also we believe in a manner full debate, pluralism and tolerance. We have no pretension nor illusions but the motivation to see our world as a better place.Indus Asia Online Journal, iaoj, is a public forum of the oppressed people, communities, nations and it provides opportunity to its users and readers to share their views with community /public at large. Therefore, IAOJ is not responsible for the contents, we receive information from several unidentified sources including e-groups, facebook, twitter, internet and e-mails. Neither the email address nor the name of the sender verified.

Amar Fayaz Buriro – “Sky’s The Limit”

Amar Fayaz

Amar has endeavoured to bring this latest technology to the service of major Pakistani languages such as Sindhi & urdu. He realized that, these languages of his country faced formidable challenges due to non-compatibility with browsers designed especially for the handheld devices such as tablets and cellphones. One of the major issues so far as Urdu was concerned was the use of the traditionally preferred Nastaleeq style on the web. Finally he was able to create the first Web based Nastaleeq font “Amar Nastaleeq”, which is a lightweight font that allows robust and reliable conversion to various embeddable formats for use across major OS’s, browsers and devices. Meanwhile, he also worked at localizing the world’s leading CMS Joomla for Urdu and Sindhi. Today he is developer of more than 50 multilingual & complex websites (including this) which use advanced PHP programming. He also found that majority of the programmers and web developers in our country use nulled versions, cracked software and pirated scripts. This unfortunately is the major cause why most of the websites get hacked and the database management has security issues. Deviating from this practice, he chose to use neat and clean programming and licensed scripts.
Read more about Amar Fayaz » Click Here

Bhalie karae aaya (Welcome at IAOJ)

Indus Asia Online Journal is a moderate or a progressive blog or you can call a liberal blog, which focuses on the thoughts and to discuss on socio economic political and geo-political conditions of the world.
However, "IAOJ" encourages publishing about current affairs, human rights, analysis on issues, multicultural and community activities, history, life experiences, sharing photos, famous personalities, & jokes etc.

We don't support any party & we post opinion articles supporting both left & right wing for awareness & understanding of the issues . In this way we want spark debate & discussion. Indus Asia Online Journal is not here to push any particular political agenda or blindly support any party.

We believe strength lies in dedication and team work.

For us silence is no longer a solution towards our social & political issues. When politics decides your future! You should decide your politics!

"IAOJ" brings you briefs on geo-politics from around the world. We gather information and insights from multiple sources and presents to you to quench your Thirst for right perspective with right information at right time.

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About us

``In books I have traveled, not only to other worlds, but into my own. I learned who I was and who I wanted to be, what I might aspire to, and what I might dare to dream about my world and myself. But I felt that I, too, existed much of the time in a different dimension from everyone else I knew. There was waking, and there was sleeping. And then there were books, a kind of parallel universe in which anything might happen and frequently did, a universe in which I might be a newcomer but was never really a stranger. My real, true world. My perfect island.`` -(ANNA QUINDLEN)
In the past I have been jack of all trades- Now my activity is bloging. My off time after my office/job/ is spent mostly with my family [wife & two children (son & daughter). I believe in positive mental attitude and dedication. I am living in Canada and my destiny is hope. "
... and the Truth will set you free." - John 8:32
Editor-Moderator, IAOJ

SAVE INDUS RIVER

HOW COME BAGLIHAR DAM WRONG & KALABAGH DAM RIGHT? “WHEN INDIA DIVERTS PAKISTAN’S WATER, IT IS A TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE UNDER INTERNATIONAL RIVER LAW, WHEN PUNJAB DOES THE SAME TO SINDH, IT IS DEEMED NECESSARY FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF PAKISTAN.”.- Humaira Rahman, a Sindhi-Canadian environmentalist.

"IF YOU WANT TO KILL RIVER BUILDING DAMS IS THE BEST WAY TO DO IT." - CANADIAN DOCUMENTARY MAKER MICHAEL BUCKLEY.

UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

- All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
- Every one has the right to freedom of opinion & expression this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference & to seek, receive & impart information and ideas through any media & regardless of frontiers ...

OUR BELIEFS:

We believe that we can change the world. Yes, we do.
WE BELIEVE IN WOMEN RIGHTS- Woman is an Independent Human being to take decision on her life.
We believe in making the world a safer place to live in & spread love & peace.
We have;
No any profit motives.
No government intervention and influence.
No prejudice & jealousy to others. Our Slogan is: All Nations, All Races, All Creeds have same dreams and same needs.

Rabindranath Tagore

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
by narrow domestic walls;
Where the words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by Thee into ever-widening
thought and action--
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father,
let my country awake. ~ Rabindranath Tagore

The process of change

- [You cannot expect change to happen overnight. The process of change is slow and gradual. It is a work in progress all the time. It happens through legislation, it happens through social transformation, attitude change, and mindset change. So it is indeed a work in progress all the time. You have to keep working on it, without worrying too much to see the outcome in your lifetime....Kaifi Azmi]
- [Change can come in either of two important ways: start behaving positively or stop behaving negatively- Dr. Phill]
- [Freedom cannot exist without discipline, self-discipline, and rights cannot exist without duties. Those who do not observe their duties do not deserve their rights. - Oriana Fallaci.]

The Earth

Our planet doesn't come with a spare. We all have a choice we can continue to drain natural resources while creating more and more pollution or we can make a change we can.. And until we find another planet Earth.

Tao Te Ching (4th cent. BCE)

Weapons are the tools of violence;
all decent men detest them.

Weapons are the tools of fear;
a decent man will avoid them
except in the direst necessity
and, if compelled, will use them
only with the utmost restraint.
Peace is his highest value.
If the peace has been shattered,
how can he be content?
His enemies are not demons,
but human beings like himself.
He doesn't wish them personal harm.
Nor does he rejoice in victory.
How could he rejoice in victory
and delight in the slaughter of men?

He enters a battle gravely,
with sorrow and with great compassion,
as if he were attending a funeral.
--Tao Te Ching (4th cent. BCE)

Our vision: Together we make a difference!

Indus Asia Online Journal is a common platform & global voice of the community. It's vision is to help bring positive changes & improvements in all spheres of life.

Voltaire

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" ~ Voltaire

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Disclaimer

You are using this web page just for viewing purpose only. All users are using this blog at their own risk and agree not hold "IAOJ" liable for any thing resulting from visiting of this blog or any other blog maintained by IAOJ."IAOJ" is not responsible for any content linked to or refered to. All videos, Live Tvs, blogs or videos links point to content hosted on third party websites or we are using third party links. "IOAJ" does not accept responsibility for content hosted on other websites.
"IAOJ" acts as personal Journal, blog or diary . Under no circumstances shall "IAOJ" be responsible for anything or otherwise whatsoever.
The views & opinions expressed on this blog are in no way representative of the views or opinions of the blog.